Modelling in Tokyo in the Eighties could be exciting. If you just went with the flow, anything could happen. The model set card was your ticket into any place. Birthday party in the fanciest of clubs with champagne, sparklers and cake every weekend? No problem, just lie about the date of your birth repeatedly and celebrate with other models, world famous musicians, movie stars and a few Japanese facing the mirrors, dancing with themselves.

 

Everything was of course not always that rosy. Bad modelling agency contracts kept you there for months because you had to pay back the airplane ticket and the robber rent before they let you leave. Pervert stalkers that climbed up the walls and sniffed your dirty underwear was not unusual. Spending your last yen on the payphone in the lobby of some hotel in Roppongi, crying long distance, missing your boyfriend. Life before iPhone folks. Just about enough money to eat burgers and fries at Wendy’s but not to buy your own food in a sushi restaurant.

Beef Tartar, quail egg, Lobster and radish

Let’s not dwell on the bad stuff, I will forever remember the crazy Toga parties, the weird modelling assignments, Shinkansen, tatami mats, 7 store toy shops, pretty packaging, vintage kimonos, the bikini castings in front of the big company’s all male executives in suits, earth quakes, Patchinko halls, karaoke, plastic food displays and all the free fried Tofu Steaks at Rajah Court Club and how I always burned my tongue because I was hungry and it was hot.

Re-living the food and feeling of the 80’s Tokyo clubs in the Raw Bar at Tak, everything just amplified tenfolds, beautified and Scandi-twisted. Food created by chef Frida Ronge. I am older, hopefully wiser, calmer and more in the now now. The dark atmosphere with huge windows, raw concrete floors and deep sofas. Two communal tables in the bar. Not to forget… the view, all of it. Stockholm.

Eggs with Goshuyang mayonnaise, Shishimi Togarashi,roasted onion and sesame.

 

I just missed the straight friendly gay club ¨Gaysha¨   -could have been fun- but I might go for the Temaki-Bonanza on Saturday the 7th of October, they call it buffet-style eating and it is brought to your table for 295SEK. Or maybe the 4 hour DJ session and drink(s) on Thursday the 5th of October. Ingmari Pagenkemper, club hot shot, is spinning the wheel. Anyone?

Pike-Perch sashimi, oyster, parsley and cabbage.

 

Blueberry Custard, Jasmin cream, malt.

Thank you fellow Sisu Girls Jarna Pere and Pia Halmevaara. PS Giving Pia all the credits for finding this fashionable place.

More info about the TAK complex with it’s bar, restaurant and terrace here.

Oh, and if you are wondering what’s in that first eye catching dish that looks like an iris, it’s Tofu with avocado, Dashi, Ponzu and sesame Bonito.